A standard faucet comprises a complicated housing body provided internally with a valve that is connected on the one side to incoming hot- and cold-water lines and on the other side to an outgoing flow passage. A faucet projecting laterally from and carried on the body receives water from the flow passage.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,858 the faucet is integrally cast with the valve body. Thus this combined valve/faucet structure is a complicated element that adds considerably to the cost of the valve assembly.
In European patent 12,890 filed by K. Grohe based on a German priority of 06 Dec. 1978 the faucet is a tube projecting from the valve body and acting as a holder and guide for the outer end of a hose. Thus when the hose is retracted into the assembly its outer end acts like a standard faucet, but when pulled out it can be used as a sprayer or hand shower. Such an arrangement is also fairly complex and quite costly.
The faucet of U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,946 is formed by an outer decorative cast element and an inner cast element, the inner element actually serving to conduct the water. Such a device is, once again, quite expensive to manufacture.
The known arrangements all suffer from the further problem that they cannot be repaired easily, as the entire cast assembly must be replaced so that it is usually cheaper to put in a new valve assembly. Furthermore, the entire valve assembly conforms to a predetermined design and in no way can, for instance, its color other design consideration be changed without once again selecting an entirely new unit.